A.J. Samataua (65) moves into the starting left guard position and Keoni Taylor (68, on back right) is now the backup right guard. (Staff photo/Jim Gensheimer)

A few notable changes, mostly related to offensive line injuries. With Jeremiah Kolone (left knee) out, it’s A.J. Samataua moving from backup right guard to starting left guard. Doug Blacksill remains the backup left guard and Keoni Taylor becomes the backup right guard. Also with Keith Bendixen (undisclosed) out, Chris Gonzalez is the backup center. That gives SJSU four freshmen on its two deep on the offensive line. Continue Reading →

Jeremiah Kolone (62), shown making the block to help lead to a Joe Gray quarterback sneak touchdown against UNLV, may be out for a while with a left knee injury. (Staff photo/Jim Gensheimer)

San Jose State’s starting left guard Jeremiah Kolone is out indefinitely after suffering a left knee injury Saturday. Caragher said Kolone was getting an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of the injury, but it appears to involve the knee ligaments and could end his season. Continue Reading →

Tight end Billy Freeman could be back for Saturday’s game at Wyoming.(Staff photo/Nhat V. Meyer)

San Jose State tight end Billy Freeman was back at practice Tuesday in a limited capacity and coach Ron Caragher said he plays to have the sophomore travel with the team to Wyoming for this week’s game.

“The plan is to bring him and see what he can handle as he progresses through the week,” Caragher said.

Backup tight end Andrew Vollert continues to get extra work in practice in the absence of Billy Freeman. (Staff photo/Jim Gensheimer)

San Jose State’s second bye week essentially ended today when the Spartans broke for the weekend after their morning practice.

The team practiced the past three days and will have the next two days off while the coaches disperse to go off recruiting and the players get a little down time.

Coach Ron Caragher used the first two days of practice this week to try to keep the pace of practice up.

“We had a good chance to get some good competitive days here, mostly Tuesday and Wednesday,” Caragher said. “Ones vs. ones, just in the name of trying to keep the game speed fast. I think we had some momentum coming off Saturday night and wanted to do our best to keep that.”

He also said that some players who had been working on the scout team for the first month of the season were given a chance to practice a little more with the rest of the group. That occured on Tuesday and Wednesday, two days where I was busy covering the Giants and wasn’t out at practice so I’m not sure who those players were. But that will be something to watch next week.

I asked Caragher if, with this being a bye week, they used any time to start preparing to face Navy’s triple option attack, which they’ll have to do battle with in two and a half weeks.

“We’ve thrown in a scheme, but not much,” Caragher said. “We’ve thrown in a couple down-the-road schemes that we could face on both sides of the football. You need more than three practices to get ready.”

On the injury front, tight end Billy Freeman (ankle) still hasn’t returned to practice although Caragher remains optimistic he could be back next week. The bad sign is that he’s not even out on the practice field, so we’ll monitor that.

“In the mean time, Andrew Vollert’s getting some really good work and much needed, being the young player that he is,” Caragher said of Freeman’s backup.

Center David Peterson sat out Thursday to rest what Caragher termed a “nagging” injury.

“He’s working through it. It’s going to be there,” Caragher said. “But he’s a tough guy. He just pushes through it. It’s just a matter of a pain tolerance issue.”

Backup center Keith Bendixen also sat out practice, meaning No. 3 center Chris Gonzalez, who most recently has seem time as a blocking tight end, worked with the first team.

That’s about it until next Monday. One note, I’m hoping to get out to a high school game tomorrow to check out San Jose State quarterback commit Cameron Burston, so if I do make it out there I’ll be sure to write something up about my impressions of him. He’ll lead Stellar Prep of Hayward into a game Friday night at 7 p.m. against 5-0 California School for the Deaf.

The Spartans clashed for their final scrimmage Saturday. What were the main takeaways? (Staff photo/Jim Gensheimer)

What were the biggest takeaways from today’s final scrimmage of camp for San Jose State?

For me, the biggest one is this team has the chance to have a very good running game. Jarrod Lawson and Thomas Tucker are the known quantities and Lawson proved again today why he is so hard to tackle. The guy runs so hard for his size.

But Brandon Monroe and Limihai Hifo looked extremely good in their roles as power backs. Monroe showed his ability to break tackles, use shifty footwork and explode when he finds a lane. I’m suddenly very excited to see what he can bring to the table this year. Hifo also looked very good and will get his chance to contribute.

Ron Caragher wants to test his players during Saturday’s final scrimmage of camp. (Staff photo/Jim Gensheimer)

Ron Caragher said he wants his players — in particular his quarterbacks — tested during Saturday’s scrimmage, the last true live action before the Aug. 28 opener against North Dakota.

“We’ll test the positions that we feel there’s some potential changes and shake-ups,” Caragher said. “Get some of the first-year guys going and see what they can do in adverse situations.”

“You always want to make sure you come out of it healthy but you also need to test some positions. We’ll mix it up and play physical and have a good scrimmage and hopefully come out of it with some good teaching film.”

It’s the last real test for quarterbacks Blake Jurich and Joe Gray and a decision on the starter should be known Sunday.

But what other position battles are still out there? Let’s take a look.

In it, Tucker and Lawson stand side-by-side, Tucker in his No. 3 jersey and Lawson sporting his new No. 21. They both count it down, pointing at the numbers on their jerseys as they call out “3…2…1…boom!” Consider it the new catch phrase for SJSU’s starting backs.

The Spartans may have some questions at quarterback, where Joe Gray and Blake Jurich continue to battle. Some questions still persist on the offensive line, where a new contender entered the right guard battle today (I’ll get to that later). Tight end depth after Billy Freeman could be a question, especially with Freeman still not practicing due to offseason foot surgery (again, I’ll get to that later). And it’s tough to say what the Spartans will have at wide receiver after Tyler Winston, where SJSU will hope for a bounce back season from Jabari Carr and the rest remains to be seen.

David Peterson is one of the keys to SJSU’s offensive line, which could also get a big boost from senior Keith Bendixen (background). (Staff photo/Jim Gensheimer)

Two days of camp are in the books and there’s nothing surprising to report about the offensive line yet. It’s definitely one of several positions that you need to see plenty of work — especially in pads — before you can evaluate too much.

But unlike spring when coaches are really trying to figure out line combinations, work through two days is pretty closely following the depth chart. The first team line is LT Wes Schweitzer, LG Jeremiah Kolone, C David Peterson, RG Keith Bendixen and RT Evan Sarver.